


For the love of family

by charlymo



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU using some of chapter 3 storylines, F/M, Kidnapping, M/M, Mind Control, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4578762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlymo/pseuds/charlymo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity is kidnapped and no one can find her.  When she's finally found, no one knows how to help her and they work to find who took her.  </p><p>I took a lot of liberties with the story lines from Season 3 so don't hate me but I needed things a certain way for it to work.  This has been stuck in my head for a while so I thought I'd share it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Felicity's missing

**Author's Note:**

> Oliver still owns QC, Ray doesn't exist for this story, Oliver didn't go toe to toe with Ra's and there was no Nanda Parbat sexy times or Alpha/Omega virus threat. 
> 
> Merlyn killed Ra's and he's over the LOA so Oliver didn't put Sara or Lyla in danger and he and Felicity are still dancing around each other. 
> 
> Thea and Captain Lance are aware of who the Arrow is and Lance is more helpful than hurtful because I love Paul Blackthorne and I want him more involved. :)

Felicity was taken on a Wednesday. Oliver and Diggle had picked her up on their way to work to drop her off at her new dentist's office. Her old dentist was moving his practice to Coast City and had recommended this one to her.

"Felicity, why do we need to drop you off this early?" Digg asked from the driver's seat.

"My files were transferred over but the nurse called and told me that I would still need to fill out paperwork and then she scheduled an appointment for me today because the dentist wants updated x-rays. I asked them if they could fit a cleaning in too so hence the early time."

Diggle nodded and Oliver glanced in her direction before turning back to his phone, checking emails. They slowed to a stop in front of the medical building and Oliver got out and opened her door.

"You sure you don't need one of us to stay with you?" He asked with his hand cupping her elbow, leading her to the sidewalk.

"Thanks but no and don't think I don't know what you're doing." His eyebrows shot up and she grinned, "You are just trying to find an excuse to get out of the meeting with Accounting. You'll be fine, they are going over budget and we talked about that a couple of day ago, remember? Everything is fine, just nod at appropriate times and it'll be over with before you know it." She patted his lapel and bent down to look at Diggle through the passenger side window, "I'll call when I get finished."

"Okay." He replied as he rolled up the window to give them some privacy.

"Oliver, it's really is a routine appointment. It'll be boring and more than likely I'll be texting both you and Digg to keep my mind occupied."

He looked down at her and smiled, "Okay, I'll see you for lunch?"

"Yep," She nodded and headed towards the building entrance, "have a good day at work!"

Oliver and Diggle watched as she went into the building, talking to the woman at the information desk before heading to the elevator banks. She gave them a little wave as she walked around the corner. Oliver got into the car and they were headed to QC.

He got two texts from her while he was in his first meeting, something about Crocs and not allowing parents to embarrass their children. He smiled and sent back a smiley face. She sent another one saying she was proud that he knew what emojis were.

Felicity called Diggle to let him know that she was being taken into the x-ray room and that it shouldn't be too much longer, "Okay, should I leave now or--"

"No," Felicity said quickly, "I don't know if he'll want to go over the scans or not so you can just wait for me to call. If it's close to lunch, maybe we can check out that new diner on 3rd."

"Sounds good, and if Oliver is finished, I'll bring him along." Digg said smiling. He ended the call right as Oliver came out his meeting.

"Was that Felicity?"

"Yeah, she's getting her x-rays done now but she doesn't know if he wants to go over them with her so she's going to call when she's ready."

"Okay, if it's close to lunch let me know and we'll eat out today."

Diggle shook his head, "Felicity had the same idea, she wants to try out that new diner on 3rd."

He nodded and smiled as he and Digg walked down to Accounting to have his next meeting of the day.

The meetings were over and it was nearing lunch when the television in his office popped on suddenly. They both turned towards the sound but all they could see was a concrete room.

"What?!" Oliver murmured and turned to look at Digg. Diggle shrugged and looked back at the tv.

All of a sudden they froze when they heard Felicity's loud voice screaming, "Let me out of here! Who the hell are you and what do you want?" She was banging on something but she was just out of the sight line of the cameras.

Diggle was the first to move, he called down to IT for them to send someone to Oliver's office NOW! as Oliver watched the feed to see if he could figure out where she was. He then took his cell phone out and keyed in a code for their trackers, and according to the app, she was still at home.

The tech ran into Oliver's office and glanced at the television. His jaw went slack when he saw Felicity. She had recruited him directly out of M.I.T and he liked her personality. This was a side of her he had never seen but he was brought out of his daze when Diggle put his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey!" Diggle shouted, snapping his fingers in front of Michael's face, "we need you to track this feed, can you do that?"

He nodded his head and opened his laptop, fingers flying over the keys. This signal was being bounced literally all around the world, there would be no way for him to pinpoint exactly where it was coming from and that was not something that he wanted to tell the very pissed off men in front of him. Suddenly the television shut off and he heard Mr. Queen yell and he looked over at him.

"I didn't do it." Michael pointed out quickly.

"GET IT BACK ON!" Oliver pleaded.

Michael tried but it was just static. Mr. Queen started pacing and Mr. Diggle clapped his shoulder again, "Michael, thank you and stay close in case it comes back on. We'll notify your supervisor that you will be staying up here for the rest of the day, okay?" Michael nodded and walked over to the couch with his laptop, trying to find Felicity. 

"Oliver," Diggle cautioned, "call down to IT and let them know that you have a project that will be taking up the rest of Michael's day, while I get a guard up here to post. When that's done I think we need to pay a visit to the dentist's office." Oliver immediately called down to IT as Diggle called one of his trusted men up to the executive floor. They were headed to the elevator when the guard came out, Diggle explained as quickly as he could and told him that if that television came on for any reason, to notify him immediately and that Michael would be working from the office for the day. His guard nodded and took a post that he could see Michael, the television and the elevator.

They were both quiet on the elevator ride down and once they got into the car headed to the medical building, Oliver broke the silence, "Did she seem okay when you talked to her earlier?"

Diggle nodded, "Nothing out of the ordinary and she didn't give me the code word so whatever happened was quick. I checked out her tracker," Oliver's eyes shot to Digg's in the rear view mirror, "it says she's at home."

"Well, we know that she's not there." Oliver groaned in frustration, wiping a hand down his face, "I'm going to call Thea and ask her and Roy to go by her apartment. We know she's not there but--"

"Do it."

Oliver called Thea, who picked up on the second ring, "Hey Ollie, I was going to call you late--"

"Speedy, I need you and Roy to go to Felicity's apartment. She's been kidnapped, we picked her up this morning and dropped her off for her dentist's appointment and we got a feed in my office that shows her not where we left her. Her tracker says she's at home, we're headed to the dentist's office, can you and Roy check her apartment?"

"Yes, I'll pick up Roy and we'll head straight there." He heard rustling and doors slamming, "Call me whenever you have more information and I'll call you after we check her apartment."

"Thanks Speedy."

They pulled up to the same spot they were in this morning and walked into the building to the same woman at the information desk.

Oliver flashed his CEO smile and asked where Dr. Tennall's office was. She pointed to the elevator bank and told him the 14th floor. He thanked her and they made their way to the elevators. Both men were tense waiting for the elevator to make it to the 14th floor, once the doors opened there was a sign on the wall telling them the floors' tenants and the corresponding suite numbers. Once Diggle found the right number, they walked silently down the hall and opened the door. They both stood there in shock because there was absolutely nothing in this room. No patients, no chairs, no office hustle and bustle. There was literally NOTHING in the entire room.

Diggle turned and walked back down the hall to the sign and he nodded to Oliver when he realized it was the correct suite number. Diggle walked back towards him and Oliver pulled out his phone, calling Laurel.

"Hey Ollie." Laurel answered.

"Hey, can you contact your dad and have him meet me at this address?"

He heard papers rustling, "Sure, what's the address and is he meeting you or the other you?"

"Me and I'll explain more later but Felicity's been kidnapped. Her tracker says she's home but we dropped her off this morning at the address I'm going to give you. Please tell Lance to hurry, okay?"

"Okay, what's the address?" He heard her scribble it down and then the line went dead. Two minutes later his phone rang, it was Lance.

"Queen," Lance said and Oliver heard the sound of tires screeching, "give me details." Oliver filled him in on everything that he knew. By the time he was through, Lance was getting out of the car and walking into the building. He met Oliver and John on the 14th floor, right outside of the elevators. He walked down the hall with them saying, "I'll call in a couple of favors and get CSI in here. There has to be something, they can't clean up that quickly. What time did you say she called you?" He asked Diggle.

Digg checked his phone, "10:48 and it's now 12:53 and we've been here for about twenty minutes so they only had, at most, an hour and thirty or an hour and forty minutes because we didn't pass anyone in the lobby or on this floor."

"Actually no one has been on this floor, Digg."

Captain Lance and Digg looked over at Oliver, "What?" Lance asked, confused.

"The entire time we've been on this floor, for the past thirty minutes, more or less, there has been no activity on this floor. For a bunch of medical professionals, isn't that odd?"

The three men looked at one another and started knocking on doors, when no one answered any of them, they opened them up seeing the same thing they'd seen when they opened Dr. Tennall's door, nothing. The entire floor was empty even though the sign said it was fully occupied.

"I'm calling everybody in for this." Lance pulled his phone from his pocket and started talking to the station. Oliver's phone rang and he answered when he saw Thea's face.

"Hey Speedy."

"Hey Ollie, nothing is out of place here. It looks like it always does when I come for movie night so whoever took her, didn't come here but we want to stay just in case they do. What's going on there?"

Oliver explained quickly and agreed that one of them needed to stay but he wanted one of them to get to the lair. Thea volunteered since she knew more about computers than Roy did. Felicity had been training her and Laurel on some basics in case she was tied up in a meeting and wasn't able to make it before they went patrolling.

He hung up with Thea about the same time Lance hung up with the station. He told Quentin and Diggle what Thea told him and that she was headed to monitor Felicity's computers while Roy stayed at her apartment.

"Okay, I've got CSI and uniforms coming to talk to the front desk worker and take your statements. Meet them in the lobby, I've told them to get you two first so that you can get back to QC in case a ransom demand comes in."

"Is that what you think it is?" Diggle questioned Lance.

"Honestly, until we get some more information, I have no idea but you know the press is going to get a hold of this. You might want to get in front of it somehow, press conference, press release, whatever it is you think needs to be done but we need to keep control of this as much as we can. Also, set up a way to record your television. They might try to contact you again and instead of going from memory, we'll have something tangible." Oliver nodded and he and Digg headed to the lobby to wait on the police.

Three hours later, he was standing on the steps of QC giving a press conference on his missing VP. He'd talked to the PR department and they had a plan for him to talk to the press. Honesty was the best policy in this instance because of the lack of information they had. He told the press that no ransom had come in yet but since she was missing, he had made that assumption because she was the youngest VP in the city. He answered every question he could and his frustration mounted when he came to the realization that most of his answers were 'I don't know.'

After the twenty five minute press conference, he and Diggle headed back upstairs. 

"Michael," Oliver barked, causing the man to jump, "did you get the recorder set up?"

"Yes, I've programmed it to start recording as soon as the tv comes on. I have it set up to alert your work phones and it will also alert me so I can start tracing it." He walked from the tv back to the couch where he'd been sitting all day trying to find his employer.

"Thank you." Michael's head popped up at that and he looked directly at Oliver Queen.

"You're welcome but I'd be tracking her anyway once I found out she'd gone missing. She plucked me directly from M.I.T saying that I reminded her of herself at that age." He scoffed once and mumbled, "Like she's that much older." He heard a grunt and looked up to see Mr. Diggle trying to hold back a smile, "Sorry, I tend to talk to myself but she was nice to me when a lot of people weren't. I'd be hacking at home if I wasn't sitting in your office." Both men nodded and he went back to his laptop.

"Since you have alerts set up, why don't you go on home." Oliver told him as he walked from behind his desk, "I'd like you to work from up here until we come up with something concrete. I'll contact your supervisor and let him know." Michael nodded and packed up his laptop to leave.

Diggle talked to the guard, letting him know that Felicity was missing and informed him to get a team together by the end of the day because Mr. Queen wanted someone posted on this floor 24/7. The guard nodded and left along with Michael.

Diggle walked back into Oliver's office. He was staring across the hallway to Felicity's empty office. "So, what do we think this is? Newest VP and they can get a ransom, Oliver Queen related, or Arrow related?"

"John, it just seems too contrived to be for a ransom. They went through an entire charade to get her there, setting up an office and there were people waiting in the same room with her because she texted me something about kids and Crocs...wait, didn't she say this morning that her files were transferred? Why? Who was her dentist before?"

"I'll call HR and see if they would look and tell us and since you're her emergency contact, they may tell us." Oliver nodded and watched as Diggle talked to HR and he reached over Oliver's desk grabbing a pen and pad, writing down whatever they were telling him.

"Thank you, Pam, we appreciate it and I'll personally call Captain Lance to get him to check it out." Diggle hung up the phone and tossed the pad to Oliver, "So, Lance or will he get a visit from the Arrow tonight?"

"Both, I want the police to have legally obtained evidence in case he's a part of this. Digg, can you call Michael back?" Diggle raised an eyebrow but nodded and picked up the phone again. A few minutes later, Michael was back in the CEO's office.

He looked towards the television, "I didn't get an alert, is everything okay?"

Oliver nodded and motioned for him to sit, "Can you hack into secured footage?"

Michael shifted in his seat, "Um, well, that's illegal so um--"

"You told us earlier that Felicity picked you personally because you reminded her of herself, we know she can hack, can you?"

He looked from one man to the other and nodded slowly.

"Okay, can you check the medical building that Felicity was in earlier today and see if you can find a parent and child on it on the security footage. I don't know if the parent was the mother or father but Felicity sent me a text telling me that parents shouldn't dress their children in Crocs, especially bright orange Crocs. That's all I've got but maybe if we can find them maybe we can get some answers." Michael nodded and started typing.

Oliver and Diggle walked to the other side of the room and Oliver called Quentin to let him know about Felicity's original dentist. They were going over when they had dropped her off this morning to see if they could recall anything out of the ordinary when they heard Michael mumbling.

Oliver walked closer to the man, "Is everything okay?"

"Hmmm? No, most definitely not okay, it's been scrubbed." 

"What do you mean scrubbed?" Diggle questioned him, walking up behind Oliver.

"I mean that whoever took Ms. Smoak, has some impressive computer skills because there is nothing on these tapes. The lobby tape shows her talking to the information desk, waving and walking to the elevator. The elevator tape shows her fidgeting with her phone and stepping off the elevator on the 14th floor but as soon as the elevator door closes, there is no more footage. All of the footage of the 14th floor is blank until you two step off the elevator, nothing before that at all. I'll check previous days footage but if they scrubbed this, then I'm not holding out hope."

"Do what you can, Digg, call Lance and let him know what we know."

"Wait! What I just did is illegal, I don't want to go to jail."

"Trust me, you won't, keep trying to find something please." Michael nodded and set back to work.

Diggle called Lance, letting him know what Michael had found out.

"Okay, I'll get a warrant and see if I can get the tapes so we have it on record. Keep me in the loop and as soon as I talk to the dentist, I'll contact you." Diggle hung up with Lance as Michael was packing his bag again.

"I have some searches set up but they are going to take a while to run," Michael told them as he got up to leave again, "if anything comes up do I call both of you or--"

Diggle shook his head, "Call me, I always have my phone on me, the boss here seems to leave his in random places sometimes." Michael nodded left passing the guards coming into Oliver's office.

Diggle got the men set up for the night, they all knew to contact Diggle if the television came on no matter what time it was. With that settled, Oliver and Diggle headed for the elevator and once they were in the car they called the team in to meet at the lair, it was time to come up with some kind of plan.


	2. Time for a plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone meets at the lair to come up with a plan but since they have no clues...what's the plan?

"Ollie, just tell us what's going on." Thea pleaded.

"Speedy, as soon as Laurel gets here I will. I don't want to repeat things and --" Oliver stopped when he heard the code being punched in. He heard Laurel's heels and another set of shoes on the stairs. Looking away from Thea, he saw Lance following his daughter.

"Laurel," Oliver scolded, "what is--"

"This is no time for a pissing contest Queen," Quentin interrupted, "I know who you are and if I wanted you in jail, I could have done it a long time ago. So, what do we know?"

"We," Oliver motioned to him and Diggle, "had just walked into my office and the television popped on. Neither of us were near the remote so we were confused until we heard Felicity's voice."

Diggle nodded and added, "I called down to IT telling them to send someone immediately to Oliver's office while he watched the footage to see if he could see anything. After I hung up with them I opened up our tracking device that Felicity installed on all of our phones and it showed that she was in her apartment."

"Okay," Lance said slowly as he paced back and forth, "so at what time this morning did you two drop her off?"

Oliver ran his hand down his face, "We told you all of that this morning at the dentist's office. Do we have to go over this again?"

Quentin stopped pacing and looked at everyone who had the same expression of tension and worry on their face, "Look, I'm not trying to make things difficult, I'm trying to set up a time line. Who she called, who she texted, when you saw the tv come on, the time it took you to get to the building. You know, things like that so I can use what I know to nudge the investigation in the right direction. I know that you guys don't always do things legally but in order for me to prosecute when we do get these perps, I have to go by the book. The higher ups know that I know you personally so it won't look suspicious that I contacted you to get more information."

"It was around 9am. We watched her talk to the woman at the information desk and then get on the elevator."

"Then what?"

"Then we left and went to work. I had meetings all morning and when I left Accounting and made it to the office, the television came on."

Diggle continued, "I called for IT and then Michael came into the office and I told him to track where the feed was coming from."

Quentin started waving a hand, "Stop, didn't you tell me earlier that she texted you?"

"No, she called me and texted Oliver."

"Which one was first?" Quentin asked.

Both men pulled out their phones and looked at the time stamps and then at each other's phones, "She texted me first and it looks like twenty minutes later, called Digg."

"John, after she called you how much longer after that did you two enter Queen's office?"

"Not even an hour," Oliver looked over at Digg, who gave a quick nod, "I had a short meeting with Accounting and was back in my office around noon and the tv turned on not too long after that."

Quentin was quiet and looking at his notepad, "Okay, John she called you at 10:48 and the tv turned on at noon?"

"Yes."

"And when the feed went off, you went directly to the medical building?"

"Yes." 

"You noticed nothing out of the ordinary until you opened the door of the dentist's office?"

"No, there was nothing strange in the lobby or the elevator. It looked like your regular city office building."

"When did you call Thea?"

"When Digg and I were headed to the car. I told her the short version and asked if she and Roy could check out Felicity's apartment even though we knew she wasn't there."

Quentin looked at Thea and raised his eyebrow, "What did you find?"

Thea moved away from the table, "Roy and I went by her apartment and nothing has been bothered. At Ollie's request, I left him there and came here to look at the cameras. Nothing, I saw nothing," She turned to look at her brother, "I know that I'm not as good as Felicity but I checked the feeds in and around the medical building and I saw when you guys dropped her off but she never left the building. Laurel, maybe you can remember a few tricks that I don't. Can you check?"

Laurel dropped her messenger bag on the nearest table and went to walk to Felicity's computers, "Don't bother Laurel." Oliver muttered. She stopped, turning to look at him with a frown on her face.

"But I might know--"

"Laurel," Oliver paused, drawing a deep breath, "I'm not saying that you can't help but Diggle and I have had Michael, a recruit that Felicity hired right out of M.I.T., working on those feeds. He said that whoever it was had scrubbed them but he had some programs running that could possibly help find her."

"Now, since Laurel called me to meet you at the office, when did you call her?"

"When we opened the door and saw nothing in the room."

"But it wasn't until I arrived that we discovered that the whole floor was empty."

"Right." Digg nodded.

"Wait, what?" Laurel asked.

Oliver turned to her and Thea, "Diggle mentioned that no one had come in or out and I mentioned that the whole floor was too quiet so we checked every door and nothing, every office was empty even though the sign stated it was a full floor."

"I have two of my officers on it now, they are digging trying to discover if a business permit was filed or if someone just filled the sign."

"Wait, the dentist's office that she went to isn't there?" Laurel asked.

"No, the whole floor was empty but I called for Lance because there was at one point a dentist's office because of the text she sent me and the call to Digg. There was nothing out of place for her so she wasn't afraid."

"What else can we do?" Thea questioned.

Oliver looked over at Digg, "Should we get ARGUS involved?"

"No, I don't think being indebted to Waller is a good idea but I'll talk to Lyla when I get home and see if she can contact some of her more trustworthy people to start looking discreetly."

"I don't know a lot about ARGUS but don't you think that might be a little extreme?" Lance asked.

"Given what we know, they had only an hour and forty minutes to kidnap her and clean up. For that to be done, they had to have done this before or were some type of military to do it so quickly."

"What about your 'other' friends Queen?"

Oliver turned to the detective with a questioning look, "I don't know how many times I have to say I'm not an idiot but I know there is more than just a green leather clad, arrow wielding hood running around this city," At Oliver's eyebrow raise he continued, "I also know that that person is probably friends with the Flash that's running around Central City. We need all the help we can get here so you might want to get in contact with him soon. I've got everything I need here," He put his notebook back into his jacket pocket, "I will keep you updated." He kissed Laurel's cheek and headed up the stairs.

"Thea head back to Felicity's apartment, I'm going to send two of the guards from QC to put in cameras. Once they're through, you and Roy won't have to watch it. Come back here and set up a monitoring system that will alert our phones if someone does enter her apartment." Thea left, following Lance up the stairs.

Oliver turned to Laurel, "Can you keep an ear out? I know that's not what you want to be doing but you have more contacts than I do and they may have heard something." She nodded and left.

Oliver and Digg looked at each other and then Digg's phone rang, "Michael, anything new?"

Oliver listened to Digg's end of the conversation but he wasn't hearing anything good. He was walking over to his suit when he heard Digg say good bye.

"What did Michael have?"

"Nothing, which he said for him is very odd. He said that there should be something to trace and there isn't. Whoever took her had a plan and didn't want to be followed. Whenever he tries to trace a lead, it takes him all over the world and then just disappears. I'm going to call Lance and have him contact Michael with the timeline and maybe there was a camera that was overlooked. I mean they can't possibly be perfect and with it being broad daylight, someone has to have seen something. Maybe we can get a hot line set up so if someone did, they can call."

"That's a good idea. You call Lance and I'll get with Mac at QC and see what they can get set up." Diggle nodded and called Lance while Oliver took his phone out to call the director of Public Relations at QC to see what could be done.

Twenty minutes later, the phone lines were being set up and Oliver was headed back to QC for another press conference so that it could get on the news when Lance called.

"Where are you?"

"Headed to QC to set up the hot line, why?"

"Can that wait? I need you to come by station."

"We'll head there now." Oliver hung up the phone and told Digg to head to the station instead.

Once Oliver and Digg arrived at the station, they were escorted directly to the basement where CSI was located. They saw Quentin who motioned for them to come in the doors.

"So what did they find?" Oliver asked.

"Nothing."

"What?" Digg barked.

"Nothing, not in the dentist's office, or in any of the other offices on that floor. They checked the signs, light switches, everything. We still have agents out at the site going over it for the second time but there is nothing. No finger prints except for ours, no hairs, nothing. Whoever has her, planned this."

"But why?" Oliver demanded, "They've had her now for over six hours and we've had no ransom note, no phone calls, no nothing. They know she's my VP and I've already said I think it's a ransom, so they know I'd pay. Why did they take her?"

Before Lance could answer, Digg's phone rang, "Michael, what? whoa, calm down. I'm at the police station with Oliver and Detective Lance, let me put you on speaker."

"Okay, Michael you are on speaker. What happened?"

"I'm not going to get into trouble for what I did, right?"

"Michael, if Felicity hand picked you personally for QC, you're good enough for me so spill, what happened?" Lance bellowed at him.

"I was running my programs at home because my servers are way better than QC's, no offence Mr. Queen, and everything was going fine until my screen went black. I checked to see what the problem was and then all of my equipment started smoking. I put it out with the fire extinguisher and thought maybe I had too many programs running when my phone rang. A very menacing voice told me that if I didn't stop looking for Miss Smoak, I would be ruined and if I still didn't stop, I'd be dead."

"Michael," Oliver asked, "are you at home right now?"

"Yes, why?"

"Get everything that you were working on, even if you think it's fried and pack a bag. I'm sending my sister to pick you up to carry you somewhere safe."

"No offense, Mr. Queen but I don't think anyone would be scared of your sister. I mean I think I have a computer that weighs more than her."

"None taken but she's tougher than she looks. Just get everything that you're going to need and all the equipment you were working with, I'll call you back and let you know when she'll be there."

"Okay, your call."

"No, Michael, it's actually yours. Do you want to help us find Felicity? I can understand if you're scared and you want out and it seems to me if you stop, these people won't bother you. It's your choice as to what you want to do."

"No, I will keep looking for her even if you were to ask me to stop. At least this way if I go missing, someone would look for me."

"Alright, I'll text you when Thea will be there."

"Queen, do you know what you're doing?" Lance asked when Diggle ended the call.

"No, but if he's telling the truth and Felicity saw herself in him and that's why she hired him, he won't stop unless he finds her. This way we can keep an eye on him and protect him if we need too."

Lance shrugged, "Head on over to QC, I'll keep you updated on what the guys find at the building."

Oliver and Diggle left, driving back to the office. He knew a little bit more than what they did earlier so when questions were asked, he answered them the best he could. He didn't give out any information on the time line, he felt that was something the public didn't need to know just yet. Plus he figured it would be easier to sort through the tips coming in, separate the crazies from the legitimate ones. By eight o'clock, he was done and headed to Verdant. Thea had sent a text to Diggle that Michael was in her office and waiting on him to come by.

Oliver and Diggle walked into Verdant using the front entrance and moved across the floor, nodding and smiling at the employees getting the place ready to open for the night. They made it up the stairs and into the office where, Roy, Thea and Michael were talking.

"Have you checked any of this yet?" Oliver asked, motioning to the two boxes of computer parts that sat on the floor.

"No, not yet. I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do and to be honest, I don't have anything to do it on."

"What do you mean?" Thea asked.

"Well, the laptop that I used in your office was my personal one and it's in there along with the two computers I had at home. I'll need to go buy another computer and upgrade it. It wouldn't take too long, if I get it now, I should have it ready to run by morning."

"What about the searches? Did this compromise them or will the alerts still come to our phones?" Diggle questioned him.

"No, those are still set as far as I know but without a computer, I don't know for sure."

"What about Thea's?" Roy said as he pointed towards Thea's desk, "Would that work?"

"It would but the firewalls probably wouldn't stand up to the malware that took my babies away from me. If it can shut down my systems, it would destroy yours and you have the club's information stored on it."

"Yeah, but if it's needed, then I can always redo schedules and liquor distribution times on a new one."

Oliver shook his head, "No, Thea, we aren't going to do that. Roy, did you happen to see Felicity's laptop at her apartment?"

"That's not going to work," Michael spoke up, "if she's any kind of hacker, that thing is jacked up with all kinds of protection. It would take me forever to get into it. I wish it would work though."

"Why is that?" Diggle asked.

"She put up the firewalls and the entire computer system for QC. She's a genius, it's a fantastic system and the reason that QC doesn't get hacked. Her personal computer must be awesome."

"Well Ollie, can he use a computer at QC?" 

"Nope," Michael interrupted again, "I wouldn't want to. If these guys are good enough to leave no digital trace and destroy my computers remotely, then I don't want to be responsible for them following me to QC. Your company employees millions of workers around the globe and if the system is compromised, you could lose billions."

"So, I guess I'm taking you to Best Buy." Roy stated as he moved from the desk chair.

"No, I think we need to go downstairs." Oliver declared.

Three pairs of eyes looked shocked and one pair curious as they watched him walk out the door.


	3. A new tech

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for sticking with me and I hope that I'll be able to update quicker than I have been. I've already got Chapter 3 outlined and I hope to post within the week.

Diggle motioned for them to stay as he followed Oliver out the office door, "Do you think that's such a good idea?"

"What other choice do we have?"

"We really don't know anything about this guy Oliver, all we know is that Felicity personally picked him from M.I.T but he could tell your secret and ours to the whole world."

"That's why I think it's okay." At Diggle's confused look, Oliver continued, "Felicity wouldn't hire anyone without a thorough background check, especially one who she considers is so much like her. If he can hack, and we know he can, then she probably knows more about him that he thinks she does. I have to trust him at this point because if he wasn't close to finding out something, then his computers wouldn't have been fried. She set that system up and it has more bells and whistles than the ones at QC do. We need him John."

Digg looked at Oliver for a moment, thinking about what he said, then nodded, "You're right, so how do you want to do this?"

"I figure if we just rip the band-aid off quickly, let him get over the shock and if he really is anything like our girl, he'll be so happy to see the tech, he'll forget about the rest until he finds something."

Diggle went back to the door and nodded at Roy and Thea. The three of them looked at Michael and saw him visibly gulp, "Okay, am I going to like this or is this the start of like every horror movie ever made? Crap, you know the black guy always gets killed first in those movies right? Can I just back out now and go back to my boring life?"

Oliver moved to stand inside the door with his arms crossed, "Michael, I told you it was your choice and I meant that. I'm not going to force you to do anything that you don't want to do but we need your help. I can't tell you anything here," He waved his hand around the office, "but once you see the basement, you'll understand why. It's up to you but we're wasting time that we could be using to track Felicity so I need you to make up your mind now, do you want to help or do I write you a check to cover your computer equipment?"

He looked around the room and as nervous as he was, he was also curious. He had a lot of respect for Felicity and these were people that she called friends so whatever was in that basement, he wanted to see. "Okay, I'm in but for the record, this really is how some horror movies start."

Roy chuckled as he picked up one of the boxes, "I think I'm going to like him."

Michael smiled as he picked up the other box and followed them from the office. Oliver led them down the steps and down a small hallway until he came to a door where he keyed in the code. He opened it and let Diggle, Thea and Roy down first. Michael went through and Oliver touched his arm, stopping him right inside the door.

Oliver let the door shut and lock and he turned to Michael, "We're putting our life and safety into your hands and it's because of Felicity that we're putting our trust in you. Please don't make us regret this decision." Michael nodded and followed Oliver down the stairs. He didn't even notice that he'd dropped the box on the floor when he saw the Arrow suit, then he saw Arsenal's suit, then Speedy's, the Black Canary's suit and was that the DA and Captain Lance standing in the middle--

"Okay son, let's get you a chair. Put your head between your knees and breathe, okay, just breathe." Lance said as he patted him lightly on the back. It took a couple of minutes but finally Michael raised his head and looked at Oliver, "So you're the Arrow." Oliver nodded.

"And--and--who's, okay, wow, I'm gonna need just a minute here."

Thea walked a little closer, "I'm Speedy, Roy is Arsenal, Laurel is the Black Canary and Captain Lance helps make sure that everything is done legally, you know, with the exception that we're all vigilantes."

"So," Michael cleared his throat, "so what is Felicity?"

They all turned and looked at Oliver, "The simple answer is she's our tech support but she's more than just finding blue prints or doing thermal imaging. She keeps all of us safe and brings us home alive every night and now we need to do that for her. So, are you ready to do that?"

"Sure but where?" He asked as he looked around the room. Oliver, Diggle and Roy moved and Michael's eyes lit up and he left the chair at almost a run to Felicity's computers. "Sweet baby Jesus! This is gorgeous set up and you are looking mighty lovely today my sweets." He ran his hand adoringly over the monitors and reached back grabbing Felicity's chair. He was sitting a little too high so he went to adjust it when they all screamed "NO!" He jumped up with his hand over his heart and looked at them wild-eyed.

"Sorry, man," Roy said as he walked towards Felicity's chair that had been thrown back about four feet, "I know at the moment she'd been kidnapped but she is very particular about certain things and that's" Roy pointed to the computers, "her area. I got her loud voice once when I adjusted her chair and I'm trying to save you from that particular fate."

"Oh, I understand but if you want me to help, I'm going to have to touch them. You know that right?" He asked looking at everyone.

"We do but for now, here's my chair and we'll get you a better one for tomorrow." Oliver said as he rolled his chair over from the table where he sharpened his arrows. "I know that there are some things that you'll adjust on her computers too just remember what you did so that you can show her when she gets back and she can put them back how she likes them, okay?" Michael nodded and pulled Oliver's chair up to the computer set up.

"What do you want done with these boxes?" Thea asked as she toed one of them.

"It would be great if you could unpack them so I can see what I can salvage. Right now I'm going to make sure my programs are still running."

"That's good," Diggle replied, "Laurel, Thea, why don't I help the two of you do that real quick and Oliver, Roy and I will patrol tonight. Thea, you need to make an appearance upstairs and Laurel, would you run comms for us?" Both women nodded and Oliver and Roy went to change while Digg picked up the box that Michael had dropped at the end of the stairs. Michael was too engrossed in the computer to pay any mind to anything until he saw Oliver walk out in his suit.

"Yeah, wow, okay, yep you're him alright." He just stared and then his eyes got wider when Roy came to stand beside him, grabbing three of the comms, passing one to Oliver and the other to Diggle.

"Laurel will be down here with you and Thea will be right upstairs. If you need to tell us anything or if you find anything, tell Laurel and she can relay the information to us." Michael nodded and the three men left. He looked over at Laurel who was sitting next to him in Felicity's chair.

"Um, I know that I've only been down here for like thirty minutes but is it okay for you to be sitting in Felicity's chair?" He asked in a low voice.

Laurel smiled at him, "It's okay. I never mess with her settings and as far as running the comms, she's given us all a crash course in it in case she and Oliver were tied up in meetings and didn't get here before patrol started."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, hang on a sec, Roy, head towards the south end tonight, I had a couple of my contacts tell me there's been more mugging in the area lately." At Roy's confirmation, she muted her end of the comms and looked at Michael, "okay, shoot."

"I've met Felicity, she's the one who hired me and she's worked with me on a couple of projects and I mean no disrespect to her at all but Roy and Oliver seem afraid of her, actually all of you screamed at me when I went to adjust that chair, so what's the deal?"

He turned when he heard Captain Lance snort and Thea snicker and he glanced over and saw Laurel smiling widely. "Son," Lance said, "you may be dealing with honest to goodness superheroes here but Felicity is the one who runs this operation."

"Yep," Thea agreed, "if you need anything, she's the woman to talk to."

Laurel was nodding her head, "And if you're ever trying to convince Oliver of something, you better make sure she's on your side because he trusts her with everything. She may be tiny but we'd all lay down our lives for her in a heartbeat, especially those three that just left. You'll have to talk to Oliver when he gets back but I'm pretty sure that this is all you'll be working on until she's found."

He sighed and went back to typing, he really needed to find Felicity because he wasn't going to end up on the bad side of these people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short and sweet but the next chapter I think you're going to like. A friend of mine read this and wanted to know what Felicity was up to. Her point of view will not be heard from until she's found and then it will be in short flashbacks. Trust me, it'll make more sense when the story unfolds. Thank you for reading!


	4. Running out of answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get back to this. Honestly, this is my favorite so far that I've written and I actually have a timeline and knew where I was going. Unfortunately, I work with a bitch (I don't use that word lightly) and whenever I tried to write anything, not just this, I always went dark and this isn't a really dark story. Angsty yes but not dark. (I deleted two chapters that killed Diggle and Felicity, so yeah, I stopped writing for a while.) But things are better and I can now finish the story I wanted to write. I hope you enjoy it!

Two months, two freaking months and it's literally like she vanished off the face of the earth. Michael, continued to work at the Foundry and he got Michael transferred upstairs to help sort what Felicity was doing before being kidnapped. Most of her work went to the other VPs or Oliver tackled it with Michael's help. He refused the board's suggestion to replace her until she returned and dove into his work at the office. He still went to the lair and patrolled but more often than not, he would be at Felicity's computers until Michael came in.

"Oliver," Digg asked as he walked into the CEO's office, "have you eaten anything today?"

Oliver looked up from the contract he was reading and glowered at Digg, "I ate this morning, and you know this because you were sitting right across from me."

Diggle threw his hands up in a placating gesture and sat down in front of his friend, "I know, I know but it's almost two and you need to eat lunch. And before you complain," He kept talking when he saw Oliver open his mouth, "you have to be strong for when we find her. Do you really think when we do, you're going to keep still? No and you know it so call and order something and I'll go get it."

Oliver relented and called in an order to the Thai place down the block, "Thanks John. I know you're right but I can't function properly. My mind is constantly going over things, hell, I watch and re-watch those damn tapes every night to see if I can see anything at all on them and nothing. She's expecting us to find her and we failed. You can see how she's just gotten more and more depressed as time goes on and it's my fault she's still with them."

"Oliver, don't you think I'm at fault too? I mean I should have stayed with her or checked out where she was going. We've exhausted every lead and the original dentist was a bust. He thought whoever he sent Felicity's records to was legit. We failed her and I'm just happy that we still see her for twenty minutes every day because that means she's alive and we've still got a shot a finding her and we will find her." John got up and walked from the office.

Oliver slumped back in his chair and turned to look out the windows. He knew the team was feeling the loss of Felicity's presence. Thea cried when she went to leave one night and it took her a few minutes to calm down because she was headed to Felicity's for movie night. No one except them and Lance had been in Felicity's home, whoever was on patrol checked on it and Oliver went by every night. He knew there was nothing there but it still smelled like her and it was a comfort to him. Roy and Laurel were talking one night while he and Digg were sparring and he overheard him tell her that he felt like he was missing an arm. She was like a sister and he couldn't find her. He'd even taken Lance's advice and contacted Central City but they hadn't been able to help either. Cisco was running his own programs and kept them updated by email. He turned back around when he heard footsteps in the outer office, Michael came around the corner and smiled at Maggie, his and Felicity's assistant. She waved him in and Oliver stood up to greet him.

"Michael, anything?"

"No, but here's today's copy," Michael replied as he handed Oliver a disk, "I ran everything I can think off to try to get something off those things but again, it's a bust."

Oliver pocketed the disk and clamped a hand down on Michael's shoulder, "Michael, it's not your fault. These guys are really good, pro-level good, and none of us have been able to locate her. We've involved ARGUS, my Bratva contacts, and they guys in Central City and none of us have been successful. We've patrolled and Roy, Laurel and Lance have used all the contacts they know of to get information. I, and the rest of the team, know that you've worked hard whenever anything tech related comes along and we are extremely grateful because as you've noticed, we're not all that good. You're important so just keep doing what you're doing and we'll find her, okay?"

Michael nodded and was startled when Digg came up behind him, "Bringing the disk up?" Digg asked.

"Yeah," He muttered to Digg, "I'm going to get started on those proposals that were brought in yesterday. I'll get you a summary of them by the end of the day." Oliver nodded and Michael left the office.

Diggle watched as he walked to the elevator, "Our girl's got a way with people, doesn't she?" He asked as he turned back to the desk and set the food down. Oliver cocked a questioning eyebrow at him, "She's only known him a few months and he's neck deep in thick of it, willing to do anything for her."

A ghost of a smile graced Oliver's face as he sat across from Diggle and started to eat. "Yeah, she's kind of hard not to fall in love with." Oliver mumbled as he dug into the sesame noodles and totally missed the astonished look on Digg's face.

Six hours later, Oliver is sitting alone in the foundry watching the footage of Felicity. There's nothing, as usual. These guys are pros because they've got one camera in one cell that is totally concrete with no window. The only thing that changes is Felicity. At the beginning, she was fighting, not literally but he could see her mouth moving and knew she was using her loud voice. Two weeks into it, she changed, she was sad and she was crying a couple of times but she seemed to pick herself up after a few days and give them hell again. It totally changed almost a week after she stated yelling again. She never moved from the bed and she looked depressed, she started losing weight and had turned very pale and almost every time she was crying. She didn't have any bruising, he made Michael triple check by zooming in, so they weren't mistreating her but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she got so depressed so suddenly.

He heard rustling and turned sharply and was stunned to see Nyssa standing near the back of the lair.

"Nyssa, whatever it is, I don't have time for Malcolm's games."

"I'm not here on his behalf." She answered and walked forward.

"Nyssa," He bellowed as he jumped from the chair, "seriously, I don't--"

"I have Felicity."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, don't kill me for the cliffhanger and the shortness of the chapter. It will all be revealed later as to the who and why but the only way to have made it longer was to rehash the previous three chapters and I didn't want to repeat things just to fill the page. I've already got half of the next chapter written and I hope to have it up by Friday.


	5. I dream about you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that this chapter is angsty, not horribly so because I can't seem to write it as well as some but I did leave it on another cliffhanger. Be back next week!

"What the hell do you mean you have Felicity?" Oliver asked, voice dangerously close to his Arrow voice.

Nyssa didn't move from the spot she was standing in, "I found her as I was searching for a target. I followed him into the building and saw him and three other men. They had a lot of tech and in the middle of the room was a concrete box. I didn't know what they had so I called some associates and we have them and the building secured. When I opened the door, I saw your Felicity huddled in the corner of a bed and when she looked at me, she mumbled something and she passed out. I contacted Ra's and he told me to get her to Starling and you, immediately."

Oliver let out a deep breath and walked to Nyssa, "Take me to her now! If this is some trick by Malcolm to get me or Thea to Nanda--"

Nyssa held up her hand and looked him in the eyes, "Oliver, I have affection for Felicity, she was a friend of my beloved and I wouldn't harm her."

Oliver looked at her and nodded once, "Okay, take me to her. Is she okay? They only showed us twenty minutes of her a day and they could have covered bruises or done God knows what to her without us knowing."

"Oliver, all I can tell you is that there are no injuries that I can see but she is not herself."

"What do you mean?"

"When she looked at me, when me and my associates came in the door, she barely glanced up but what little I saw was not the same woman I met months ago. There was no fire, no light, no acknowledgement, she seemed dead inside to be honest."

Oliver breathed deeply through his nose and he paced back and forth in front of her. "Is she safe?" Nyssa nodded, "She's in one of the safe houses that Ra's has in your city. I left my men with her because I don't want the man that I am targeting to find her."

"What man? You know what, tell me later. Can I text Digg to meet us? Can you give me the address?" Nyssa nodded again and told him the information.

"Okay, I'll follow, let's go and Diggle will meet us there." Nyssa turned and left the lair with Oliver behind her.

Thirty minutes later they were in a quiet suburb of Starling and Oliver parked his bike behind Diggle and Lyla's car. Both got out when they saw Oliver's bike pull up and were surprised to see Nyssa.

"Oliver, what's going on and why are we in the middle of suburbia?" Digg asked as he looked around at the cookie cutter houses.

"According to Nyssa, Felicity is inside." They both whipped their heads around to her and reached for their weapons, "John, don't, she says she found her and even though we need more details about all of that and who had her, right now I just want to see her." John and Lyla both adjusted their jackets to cover their weapons and John said, "You and me both," turning to Nyssa, "so lead the way."

They followed Nyssa into the house and through several rooms. She stopped outside the door at the end of the hall that had men stationed outside of it. "Nyssa, was this really necessary?" Digg asked.

"As I said to Oliver, I have affection for her and this is to protect her, not keep her prisoner. I will take my men and station them outside with the others. Take as much time as you need and let me know what I can do to help."

"Why do you need men stationed outside?" Lyla inquired.

"The man I was targeting, I followed him men to that building. They had her in that room so he has something to do with this and this is not a man to be taken lightly.

Oliver looked at her, "As soon as we get Felicity settled, we need to have a talk." Nyssa nodded and with her men, headed back down the hallway. Oliver grabbed the door handle, turning it to let him see the woman he's been kept from for two months. She was sitting in the corner of the bed, knees up, head resting on them, just as in the videos. He walked across the room and knelt in front of her, "Felicity?"

He heard a mumbled "No" but otherwise she didn't move. He tried again, "Felicity?" A little louder this time he heard, "Please not today, I can't handle this today." Then nothing. He glanced over his shoulder where Digg and Lyla stood in the doorway, they both shrugged their shoulders and motioned for him to do something. He turned back to Felicity and gently touched her hand, she raised her head then and gasped, "Hmm, this is new, normally there's blood." She murmured as she looked over his face. She raised her hand to touch him but dropped it as it almost reached his cheek.

"What do you mean normally there's blood?" He asked quietly.

She glanced up at him again and held his eyes, Nyssa was right, this wasn't his Felicity. "Normally, I see you in that basement, eyes wide and blood coming from your mouth and chest. Sometimes I see you when we were in the hospital after Sara was born but that's getting harder and harder to see."

"Felicity, why would I have blood coming from my mouth in the lair? It's secure for all intents and purposes."

"Not that basement, the basement you and Digg were trapped in because you thought I was there." Tears started flowing, "There was a tip, you two followed up on it and it was a trap and you and John were killed."

"Felicity," He muttered as calmly as he could, "I'm not dead, I'm right here in front of you."

She sniffled, "You say that sometimes when I see you but I secretly hacked into the police photos after they told me. I didn't believe them but pictures don't lie and the report said that you thought I was there."

"Who did they interview in the report?"

"Thea and Roy, she was devastated but she had Laurel too. They told Detective Lance that you'd left a note telling her about it but by the time they got there, you two were already dead."

"So Digg and I were killed in a basement?"

She nodded and fresh tears started, "It was about two weeks after Mom died."

Oliver sucked in a breath but asked, "Felicity, how did your mom die?" He saw Diggle out of the corner of his eye pull out his phone to make a call.

"She was crossing the Strip to meet a friend for dinner and the bus driver claimed he didn't see her. She was killed on impact but you and Digg and Laurel went to Vegas to prepare her funeral. The news didn't show the funeral but when you left the cemetery, a reporter asked if you had any new leads on me, you shook you head and looked so sad, you said that it was your fault that you didn't find me before she died. She'll never know if her daughter was safe." She put her head back down and quietly sobbed.

Oliver got up and walked back over to the door, "What the hell? I'm right here and I touched her and nothing. What did they do? Is it drugs?" Lyla shrugged and Digg walked back to the door.

"I talked with Donna, I didn't say we found her yet but she's safe and I have two of my buddies headed her way to watch out for her."

"Good, I don't know who Nyssa was tracking but to convince Felicity of this?"

Lyla looked back inside the room, "Why don't I get my kit? I can draw some blood and you can contact Barry to get it analyzed quickly so we can see if she was drugged in some way."

"I'll contact him, John, why don't you go in, maybe something will trigger with you." He nodded and moved past Oliver into the room. As Lyla left to get the kit from the car, he texted Barry the address and asked him to hurry.

"Felicity?" Digg asked as he crouched down much like Oliver had, "Felicity?"

She started to hit herself in the head, "No, no, no, no, no,"

"Felicity, please stop, please don't hurt yourself. I'll leave if you want me too." DIggle went to move away but she looked up so he slowly knelt back down.

As the tears flowed from her eyes, she pleaded with him, "John, please don't be angry with me. I love you as if you were my own brother and now because of me, Sara is going to grow up without a father and she'll be so angry with me. So will Lyla, but I really can't blame them for it."

He heard Lyla's gasp at that and shook his head at Felicity, "Lyla and Sara aren't going to be mad because I'm alive. I'm right here in front of you."

It was like Felicity didn't even hear him, "This is new too, sometimes you'd come to me when I was dreaming and tell me to be strong or hold on but after you died, I never saw you again. I wonder if Lyla will move away."

"Felicity, why would she move away?"

"Because no one's left, I killed everyone so why would she want to stay somewhere like that."

"There's Thea, Roy and Laurel, they're here and she'll want to--"

Digg was cut off when a wail came from Felicity and her body was wracked by sobs. Oliver came in the room but Diggle waved him back and he waited until she calmed to ask, "Felicity, what is it?

"I killed them too, John, I killed them too!" And she had to stop as the crying overtook her again.

As she quieted some, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"They," She looked out the door at where she thought her kidnappers where, "hacked into my computers and put an alert that I was back at the lair. Laurel, Roy and Thea went when they got the alert and as they were crossing the floor of Verdant, the entire club exploded. According to the news, the club had a gas leak, they were found and Lance had to identify the bodies. He was crying so hard outside the police station. If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have lost his last daughter but--" she hiccuped, "but the only solace I have is that Thea was only without Oliver for few days." 

He nodded and she leaned against the wall breathing hard with her eyes closed. He silently got up and walked back to the door where Barry now stood.

"So, she thinks that everyone is dead?" Barry asked.

"Everyone but me, apparently." Lyla said, "I'm going to try to get her blood now." Lyla went to pick her kit up and head over to Felicity but Oliver blocked her way.

"Do we want to put her through anymore? We don't know what she'll say to you."

Digg clasped his hand down on Oliver's shoulder, "Man, I understand, that's tough to watch but we need to know if she has anything in her system." Oliver dropped his head but did move from blocking Lyla. The three men watched as she crossed over to Felicity.

Lyla dropped her kit onto the bed and Felicity glanced at it then at Lyla and she started screaming, "NO! NO! NO!" Lyla sat down and hugged Felicity for all she was worth. She didn't stop until Felicity stopped screaming and finally her small arms wound around her back and squeezed tight.

"Lyla?" She whispered softly.

Lyla leaned back a little without letting go and looked in Felicity's eyes, "It's me, honey, it's me." Lyla's breath was cut off when Felicity squeezed her even tighter and then suddenly she let go and tried to scoot farther into the corner.

"Lyla, oh my God, I'm so sorry for John. If you're here to kill me, I understand and I'm sorry that Sara will grow up without him."

"Felicity, I'm not here to kill you but can I take a blood sample from you? We think you might have been drugged and we need to get a sample to Barry so he can get it to Star Labs."

"Drugged?" She questioned.

"Yes, is it okay?" Lyla asked again as she opened her kit.

"I've been drugged?"

"Possibly but we need to know for sure."

"But why would you think I've been drugged?"

"Felicity, look over at the door."

"It's Digg, Oliver and Barry."

"Have you ever seen Digg, Oliver and Barry together here before?"

"No."

"Okay, so why do you think they're here now?"

"Because you think I've been drugged."

"Right, and?" Lyla asked, dragging the last word out.

"If I've been drugged, they're real?" Felicity whispered incredulously. 

Lyla nodded.

"They're real?"

Lyla nodded again.

"Oliver and John are really standing there?"

"Yes, they're here."

"You're not dead?" She looked at Oliver.

"No, I'm right here." He answered.

"Oliver's alive!" She exclaimed softly to Lyla.

"He is." Lyla answered.

"John?" Felicity whispered.

"Hey." John barely whispered back.

"I didn't get your husband killed."

"No, no you didn't but--"

"So if you're not dead and they're not dead, how did I see them dead?"

"Didn't you tell John that they hacked your computers?"

Felicity nodded and looked at Lyla expectantly.

"What if it was planted to make you do what they wanted?"

"So no one's dead?"

"No, everyone's alive and will be very happy you are too."

"Lyla?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'm going to fain--"


	6. Felicity's home

Oliver came running to the bed, "Lyla, is she okay?"

Lyla nodded and removed the cap of the needle with her teeth, spitting it out to the floor. She started withdrawing the blood and looked at all three men who were now standing over her, "I think it's shock. For a few weeks, she's believed that everyone she knows and loves is dead and she couldn't do anything about it. Her pulse is fine, a little high, but again that's to be expected."

They watched as Lyla took two tubes of blood, tape Felicity's arm, and label the blood. She passed them off to Barry who said, "As soon as Caitlin knows anything, we'll call." And was nothing but a red blur.

Lyla was putting all her equipment back into the kit when Oliver looked at her, "Can we take her home now?"

Lyla got up from the bed, "Yes but keep her arm up. Where are we going?"

"For now," Oliver replied, picking Felicity up and cradling her to him, "the foundry."

"Then where? Until we talk with Nyssa, we need to keep her safe." Diggle said.

Oliver paused in the door, "That's why tomorrow you two, Michael, and Lance are going to make the Mansion as safe as possible. Alarms, guards, whatever we need to do."

"Oliver, that's a lot of ground to cover for just two people." Lyla explained.

"Well, it's going to house more than two people." He left the room and started walking down the hallway. Nyssa met them as she came in from the outside.

"I have my people guarding the building where she was kept. As soon as my target returns, we will dispose of him and I'll let you know." She looked at the unconscious Felicity, "Is there anything else I can do?"

Oliver nodded and Nyssa looked shocked, "Whatever you need, Ra's told me to help in whatever way I could."

"As much as I don't want to be indebted to Malcolm," Oliver gritted his teeth and popped his neck, "could you spare a few of your men to watch the foundry tonight? That's where we're going for now and since your target is the one that had her, you'll know what to look for. It will also give you time to explain to us what is going on."

She nodded, "Give me a few moments and I'll have my best men follow." She turned and left and Oliver was about to follow, "Oliver," Diggle murmured, "we still need to talk about the mansion."

"I know Digg, let's get Felicity home and I'll let you in on what I'd like to do." The couple followed Oliver to their car and he put Felicity in the backseat, getting in beside her.

Nyssa walked over, "Oliver, my five best men will follow you. They will rotate out every six hours but the lead will notify whoever you chose before that happens. They've been instructed that she is a most important ally and to protect her with any means necessary."

Oliver nodded as he held Felicity, "Thank you Nyssa. Can one of them take my bike?" She glanced behind the car and called one of the men over. She said something to him in Arabic, he nodded and headed to the rear of the car. "If you need anything, they know how to contact me." Lyla and Diggle both thanked her and got in the car. With one last look in the rear view mirror, Diggle headed back towards the foundry.

Roy, Thea, Laurel, Michael and Lance were all pacing the foundry when they heard the keypad beep. They all stopped and watched as Lyla, Oliver carrying Felicity, and Diggle came down the stairs. They watched as Oliver laid her down at the back of the lair, on the bed she'd bought for him. He covered her and walked to where everyone was.

"Okay," Oliver hesitated, then blew out a breath, "Nyssa showed up here tonight and said she'd found Felicity."

"What?!" Thea yelled.

"Why her?" Roy bellowed.

"She had her?" Lance yelled too, all three talking over each other.

Oliver motioned for them to quiet down as he looked over at Felicity to make sure the noise didn't disturb her. She hadn't moved so he continued, "A little quieter," He asked, eyeballing the three, they nodded, "she said she's been trailing a target. Now I don't know who that is," He looked at Lance who was about to ask, "but she has five of her best men guarding us from outside. She told us that she'd come by later and give us all the details, so if you're not here, we'll record it." Lance nodded and Oliver continued, "Physically, she's fine. A little malnourished but that's because she thought we were dead." He held up a hand before Thea and Laurel could open their mouths, "Somehow they'd convinced her that Digg and I were murdered in a basement on a tip she was there. A couple of weeks before that, she said her mother had gotten hit by a bus in Vegas, the three of you," He pointed to Laurel, Thea and Roy, "got an alert from here and the club blew up from a gas leak. They only two not dead were Lyla and Lance."

"Wait," Michael interrupted, "how did she know this?"

They turned from Michael back to Oliver, "They convinced her somehow through her computers. She said she hacked into the SCPD to look at mine and Digg's autopsy photos and Digg, didn't she say she saw me on a news station in Vegas?"

"Yeah, she said the reporter had stopped and talked to you when we went to pick up her mother's body for the funeral." Digg added.

Michael was smiling and bouncing from foot to foot, getting glares from some of those watching, "Okay, what about these three?" He asked, pointing to Laurel, Thea and Roy.

Oliver looked at him questioningly but answered, "She said it was news footage. The club exploded but she saw Lance doubled over crying because he had to identify the bodies."

Michael actually clapped his hands together and pushed Lyla and Laurel out of the way. He sat down in his chair and started furiously typing and mumbling to himself, the entire time with a huge grin on his face.

"Um, Michael, you want to fill us in on what has suddenly got you happy?" Thea asked.

"They gave me a clue. Actually, they gave me a lot to go on now." He answered, never turning back around.

Diggle sighed, walked up and snatched the chair around so he was facing everyone, "More information would be helpful." He told the man as he crossed his massive arms in front of him.

Michael gulped and looked from him to Oliver, "Okay, short version is that they haven't left us a trail because we only knew limited options but to do everything you say he did and have Felicity believe it, they have to be excellent to trick her." Most of them nodded so he continued, "But in order to get it to look like a news feed or pictures, they had to pull a lot of media to splice together and that's very traceable now that I know who to look for." He turned back around and asked, "So Oliver, she said you and Lance were on television?"

"Yeah," Oliver cleared his throat, "yeah, she said I was talking to reporters in Vegas. They stopped me as I was coming up to get her mother's body for burial."

"Okay, so that means outside, probably sunny cause hey, Vegas is sunny. Do you know if it was day or night?"

"No, she didn't go into too much detail before she fainted." Lyla replied.

"Okay I can still run searches looking for something you've done outside and you're solemn. I don't think you'd be smiling to pick up your mother-in-law's body. Although, I don't know how Miss Smoak is but she did raise Felicity so she can't be all that bad."

Roy and Diggle let out a chuckle and Michael turned, "What?" He looked over to Oliver who was not very happy, "I said that out loud didn't I?" 

Thea nodded, "Yeah."

Michael cleared his throatt and actually blushed and looked down, but looked back up snapping his fingers, "Captain, have you had any crime scenes that had two dead men roughly their size dead in a basement?"

"How will that help?" Laurel asked.

"You can use photoshop for just about anything nowadays. They're really good so it wouldn't be hard for them to use a stock set of photos already in SCPD custody to alter them. They had to know Felicity would snoop."

Lance pulled out his phone, "I'm on it."

Lance walks to the salmon ladder, talking to the station and Michael starts typing again, "What can you tell me about Lance's interview?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." Oliver sighed, looking back at Felicity.

"Thea, contact Caitlin and see if she can come over to check Felicity. I don't want the authorities knowing about her being okay until we have to. I need to get the mansion safe first."

"Yeah, we need to talk about that, what's your plan with the mansion?" Diggle asked.

"I thought maybe we could get it secured and everyone could live there."

"What do you mean, everyone Ollie?" Thea asked.

"Well, you know the house is big enough and we would each have privacy. I could stay in my old room, Felicity could take mom and dad's old suite of rooms since it was basically laid out like an apartment, Lyla and Digg could have the guest house with Sara, and you and Roy could have whatever rooms you wanted. It would be safe and secure and we could convert one of the out buildings into another lair."

"Oliver, that's just crazy." Diggle mumbled.

"So you'd be okay if you walked into the kitchen to see me and Roy kissing one morning?" Thea asked as Roy stepped away from Oliver.

A muscle worked in Oliver's jaw, "Look, I'll deal with what I have to deal with but she can't go home." He looked over at Felicity's unconscious form again, "She won't accept staying at the mansion without a good reason and this is fine for tonight but it's not permanent." He told them as he waved his arm around the foundry.

"So your solution is to take her to the mansion?" Laurel asked.

"I'll present it to her like I did you guys and I hope that she'll understand and want our protection. We don't know who this guy is and what he's capable of. It's just until he's caught and then she can go back home." They nodded.

"Lance, would you meet with me and Lyla tomorrow at the front gate so we can set up some security?" Diggle asked.

"Sure." He replied.

"Great, thank you. Speedy, call Caitlin please." Oliver asked, she nodded and dialed Central City.

Suddenly Michael stopped typing, looking at a monitor, "Um, guys, there's someone at the door and she doesn't look happy."

"That's Nyssa, I'll let her in." Oliver said, walking to the stairs.

"Noooo!" Felicity screamed.


	7. Time to explain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyssa comes to tell them about her target.

Everyone's head whipped to where Felicity is sitting up in Oliver's bed and screaming. Oliver and Lance run over to her as Diggle, Roy, Thea and Lyla keep Nyssa away from her.

"Felicity?" Oliver asked, gripping her face with both of his hands.

Her hands come up and cover his and she's looking at him through tears, "Oliver?"

"Yes, you're safe Felicity. You're in the foundry." Oliver goes to move his hands but she won't let him. She looks over his shoulder and sees Lance and fresh tears start to fall.

"Felicity? Felicity, it's okay. I promise you're safe now." Oliver whispered and pulls her into a hug. She sees Lance smile at her, "Felicity?"

"You're not mad at me are you? I didn't mean for Laurel to get killed." Oliver leaned back a little but didn't let go of her. He was still confused as to how she thought they were all dead. 

Oliver felt more than saw Lance come around and sit on the edge of the bed, "Felicity, honey, Laurel isn't dead." She started crying again, softer but still crying, "None of us are dead including your mother." 

Felicity's head whipped up at that, "She's not, I promise." Oliver murmured, "Diggle had some people check in on her and we've notified her though them that we have you. As soon as she can, she'll be here and you can see for yourself."

She looked from Oliver to Quentin when they heard Digg clear his throat. Oliver glanced over his shoulder and saw Nyssa standing there watching. Felicity looked over and tensed when she saw Nyssa, "Oli-Oliver, what is Ra's doing here?"

He looked from Felicity to Nyssa and back to Felicity. He also noticed Lance heard her and he put a hand on Oliver's forearm, "Felicity, I know this might sound a little crazy but humor me okay?" She nodded but never took her eyes off the group across the foundry. "Who do you see over there?" Quentin asked.

She glanced quickly at Quentin and then back to the group, "Laurel, Thea, oh Oliver she's not dead! They're not dead!" 

"No, they're not dead but who else do you see Felicity?" Oliver asked.

"Umm," she squinted, "Roy, Digg, Lyla and Ra's."

Everyone looked confused for a moment until Nyssa broke the spell, "Mind control."

"What?" Digg asked.

"Mind control. I do not know how they did it but the target that I've been searching for uses it. May I approach?" she asked Oliver.

"Why?"

"As we have tracked this man across the world, we have only run into one other person who was alive. He too, thought I was someone else but before we could help him, he jumped off the building."

"Do you think that is going to get you close to Blondie?" Roy snarked.

"No, but she's thinks I'm someone I'm not and you are all here to protect her as am I. She was a friend of my beloved and I will not harm her."

Oliver looked to Felicity, "Is it okay?"

"You'll stay?" She whispered.

He nods then looks to Nyssa, "Okay but if she wants you to back off, you do it." Nyssa nods and walks to the bed.

She stands on the opposite side and Felicity looks at her, "Felicity, who do you see when you look at me?"

Felicity looks confused and tilts her head, "Ra's."

"You don't see long black hair?" Lyla asked.

"No."

"I've got it!" Curtis yelled and startled most of the people assembled. Felicity jumped but looked over towards her computers where Curtis was.

"Curtis." Oliver grumbled.

"Yeah? What? Okay, never mind." His eyes switched from Oliver to Nyssa, "You need to change clothes."

"What?" Lyla asked.

"Her clothes." Curtis said, like it should be obvious to everyone.

"More information Curtis." Digg reminded him.

He looked over from perusing Nyssa to the confused looks on everyone's faces, "Yep, right, well most of you are in normal," Curtis used air quotes for the word normal, "clothes, clothes that she has seen you in multiple times. Thea, even though you have on red leather, she knows it's you. From what you've told me over the past couple of months, the only time she's ever seen this get up" he motioned to Nyssa, "is when Ra's came after Malcolm and Malcolm killed him making him the new leader of some assassins right? Wasn't she right there with Thea and saw it up close and personal? Maybe it's the clothes, if not, what harm would it do to change?"

"I have no what you call normal clothes." Nyssa replied.

"No, but I do and we might be close in size." Laurel told her and went to rummage around in a gym bag. "Try these on." She tossed the clothes to Nyssa and pointed the way to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Nyssa came out in jeans and a sweater and walked back to Felicity, "Hey Nyssa, what are you doing here?"

Everyone looked shocked except for Curtis, "See, told ya."

"You know I'm Nyssa now?"

"Who else would you be?" Felicity asked.

Quentin spoke up, "Laurel, would you mind going to the bathroom?"

It took a moment for Laurel to register what her dad was asking. When she did, she looked over to Nyssa who nodded and Laurel entered the bathroom.

"So Felicity, can you tell me anything about your time away." Nyssa asked.

"What do you mean?" She twisted so that she was still holding onto Oliver's waist but was facing everyone a little better.

"Did they feed you or let you watch television or go outside?" Digg asked.

"They fed me, it was okay. I thought it might be poisoned at first but after a couple of days, I got hungry. The only television they allowed me to watch was the news footage of your deaths," her voice broke at that but Oliver tucked her closer to him, "and I never went outside that I know of."

Lance heard the bathroom door open and nudged Oliver's arm, "Felicity?" She turned to look up at him, "Someone else is here, can you tell me who?" She nodded and looked around again, "Where?"

"Over by the med table."

"Oliver, the only person by the med table is Ra's." Laurel them stripped off Nyssa's robes and left Felicity's mouth hanging open.

"Wha--how--Laurel?"

"You see Laurel now?" Quentin asked.

"Yeah, don't you?"

"Yeah but we've seen her this whole time and Ra's has never been here." Roy added.

"Never?" Roy shook his head.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked Oliver.

"Whoa! I think that's what I'm here for." Caitlin said as Barry stopped by the bed.

"So did you get the blood analyzed?" Lyla asked.

"Still working on that," Caitlin answered as she walked up to Felicity, "you scared us." She told her, hugging her and Oliver since Felicity hadn't let go of him. "How about I check you out?" Felicity nodded and Caitlin sat down in the spot that Oliver vacated.

"Now," Caitlin started as she examined Felicity's eyes, "I see an assassin with regular clothes and assassin-y clothes near Laurel so can someone tell me what's going on?"

"Felicity thought Nyssa was Ra's and Curtis got the idea it was her clothing so they swapped out and once that happened, Felicity recognized Nyssa and thought Laurel was Ra's."

"Hmmm." Caitlin murmured.

"Hmmm, what?" Felicity asked.

"Felicity, can you tell me exactly what you see when you look at everybody?"

"Do I have too?"

Caitlin nodded, "It'll help."

At that moment it hit Oliver that she hadn't looked directly at any of them. He saw Felicity take a deep breath, "Who first?" she asked Caitlin.

"Oliver."

She tensed but looked directly at him for the first time, "Um, bullet hole through his skull, blood coming out of his mouth and other bullets holes in his chest area."

"Okay, what about Diggle?"

"Same thing."

"Roy?"

She stiffens so suddenly everyone notices, "Felicity?" Caitlin asks.

"Okay, um, black. Charred black, no noticeable features. Same with Thea and Laurel."

"But Felicity when we asked you earlier if you recognized anybody, you named everyone here. Didn't you think it was odd to see everyone?" Thea asked.

"I recognized the clothes, I didn't look at faces."

"So who can you stand to actually look at?" Roy asked.

"Lyla, Lance and Curtis. Oh! and Nyssa in normal clothes."

"Nyssa we need to know all about this guy. She can't live like this." Oliver begged.

Nyssa nodded, "I agree but first, Felicity, can you tell me what you did on a day to day basis?"

"How is that going to help?" Oliver asked.

"We have to figure out how he controlled her mind to see certain things otherwise, she will never look at you again."

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, let me know what you think! 
> 
> I brought in a new character because I needed tech support. When I asked my friend to read it, he got really excited and actually hugged me. When I told him I appreciated the support he told me that Michael is the real name of Mr. Terrific in the comics (he's a comic book guy and I got him addicted to Arrow :) ) and he was happy to see I was incorporating some of the comics. I told him that I didn't know Mr. Terrific's real name--I don't read the comics--and he said to not change it. So I'm not but now I can do a little bit more with Michael than what I intended, so happy accident for me!


End file.
